Taiwan’s TSMC says US investment plan is unchanged after election

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Chipmaker TSMC's investment plan in the United States remains unchanged, the company said, responding to a question on the election of Republican Donald Trump as the next U.S. president.

"Our investment plan in the U.S. remains unchanged," the company said late on Thursday in an emailed statement, without elaborating.

TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to companies including Apple and Nvidia, is investing $65 billion in new factories in the U.S. state of Arizona.

Trump, while on the campaign trail, accused Taiwan of stealing American semiconductor business.

In April TSMC's U.S. unit was awarded a $6.6 billion subsidy for advanced semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona, in a preliminary agreement with the Commerce Department.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, GlobalFoundries and at least one other chipmaker are poised to receive their final Chips and Science Act awards from the Biden administration, two people briefed on the matter said this week.

TSMC's shares have so far batted off concern about Trump's election, and have performed strongly so far this year given soaring demand for artificial intelligence.

On Thursday, the company's American Depositary Receipts closed up 4.1%, after Nvidia's shares rallied to a record high, making the chipmaker the first company in history to surpass a stock market value of $3.6 trillion.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)